The present invention relates to cooking appliances, and in particular to devices for controlling cooking appliances.
Programmable electronic control modules are commonly used in cooking appliances (such as ovens, fryers, warmers, and coffee brewers) commonly found in restaurants. Restaurant operators need control modules that are easy to use and program. These modules should produce consistent food quality, regardless of the operator""s experience.
Currently, control modules typically are operated and programmed at the small keypad on control modules located on the actual cooking appliance. Tasks such as setting a preprogram key for the cook time, cook temperature and other preprogrammed parameters are presently done manually by the operator. For a restaurant with multiple cooking appliances, this means that an operator manually programs each cooking appliance individually. This is a tremendous waste of time where a restaurant has several cooking appliances, each requiring identical programming. For the typical restaurant, operational statistics of a cooking appliance, if recorded at all, is done manually by an operator who reads the statistics off the control module""s display and then records the statistics with a pen onto a notepad.
Also, cooking appliance calibration adjustments are currently entered manually at the keypad of the cooking appliance""s control module. Likewise, food temperature verification adjustments are also entered manually at the keypad of the cooking appliance""s control module. For example, after cooking hamburger patties the temperature of the meat is measured. If the temperature of the meat is too low or too high, the cook time has to be readjusted manually on the keypad of the control module. All these measurements and data values are logged by hand and kept on file for further verification. These manipulations are time consuming and the operator can easily make mistakes, either in the manual manipulation of the control module""s keypad or in the manual recording of data.
What is needed is a better interface for control of a cooking appliance.
The present invention provides a cooking system having a cooking appliance and a remote computer. The cooking appliance has a programmable control module that controls a heating device. The heating device is in communication with and provides heat to a cooking location. The programmable control module is in communication with the remote computer unit via a wireless communication link. In a preferred embodiment, the remote computer unit is a Palm Pilot and the wireless communication link is an infrared (IR) link. Also, in the preferred embodiment, a temperature acquisition module is in communication with the Palm Pilot via a serial link. A temperature probe is connected to the temperature acquisition module. The temperature probe is in communication with the cooking location and senses the temperature of the cooking location. The sensed temperature is transmitted via the temperature acquisition module to the Palm Pilot. In a preferred embodiment, the Palm Pilot is used to transmit calibration instructions to the programmable control module.